My city betrayed me

[pfrduke]

The City of Seattle put a price on its principle today. Admittedly, it was a high price - $45 million, and possibly $75 million. But as little as four months ago, this was supposedly not about the money. It was about principle. It was about a city standing up to the ridiculosity of sports owners. The Professional Basketball Club (the corporate name of the Sonics ownership group) played a game of extortion with Seattle. They swooped in, insisted that the city and state build it a $500 million arena in the suburbs at negligible cost to the multi-billionaire ownership group. Mind you, when Bennett testified during trial and was asked how a personal loss of $65 million over two years would impact his lifestyle, he said it would have essentially no impact. $32 million a year, and it wouldn't change the way the man lives his life. But he can't be bothered to pony up a dime for a brand new, luxury facility, the profits from which will go into his pocket.

And the people, the city, and the state called BS. They said no - not on our backs. And the city said, we'll fight it to the end. You can't just walk in here and change the rules. You can't play the game entirely on your terms. You have to give some to get some. To which the ownership group said, "pottymouth!pottymouth!pottymouth!pottymouth! you" (apologies for the language, but it's merited).

And so the fight was on. The city had a great lease, a plausible chance of enjoining the team from abandoning its city. They went through a trial, all the way through closing. They battled, even as the rest of the nation turned a blind eye. The high (or low) point to this was when, during the middle of the trial that could (and ultimately did) steal the Sonics from Seattle, David Stern said, without a trace of irony, "with the 4th pick in the NBA draft, the Seattle SuperSonics select ..." The city fought on behalf of its citizens, its team, and its fans. They stood up and said no.

Until today. Until the money suddenly looked good. They would have lost this trial - I have almost no doubt about that. The judge would have been extremely hard-pressed to say there was no dollar value that could be placed on the last two years of the lease. Once she found that, even if the lease called for specific performance, she couldn't have ordered it. The team would have walked away. The city would ultimately have gotten some money. Maybe $45 million, maybe less, maybe more. But they would have collected that money with their heads held high, not with their hands out to the NBA. Not with the stink of selling out the Sonics - Seattle's first and oldest professional team and only champion (no, I don't count the Storm).

The City kept the team name, colors, and history as part of the deal. But they lost the Sonics today, and forever. And in doing so, they sold out the Sonics fans all over Washington. Me, I would have preferred they go all the way and lose than sell out. The city was fighting for me. Now, it's just another accomplice in the Sonics' departure. For shame.

[weezie]

I'm sorry for you pfrduke, and sad for all your co-Seattleans. Knowing how deeply the identification is between Detroiters and their teams, the thought of having to live through such a shameful episode makes me wince.

[Highlander]

Reminds me of the Charlotte Hornets and their battle with George Shinn. Why the city of Charlotte felt it needed another NBA team and a new arena at all is beyond me.

[Devilsfan]

Yes but what a poor choice of management. Maybe they'll sell the team in Charlotte to owners that really knows what it takes to build a winner, and stop creating a Tar Heel D league for past players.

[greybeard]

This is a defeat for fans and cities throuhout the country. It should be a stain on the NBA, and, in particular, on David Stern. No amount of funny economics showing how the investment in a new arena would have been "good" for the city can change the fact that the NBA monopoly held the city hostage under threat of leaving unless the populace ponied up.

Corporate welfare is nothing new to this country. The Southern States have long sold out working people in their States to attract business by making their States essentially "union-free" zones (they too said it was "good" for the workers to work under meanial conditions, better than no work at all; a bunch of bull).

But, these NBA big wigs have nothing but cash, and had no need for any corporate welfare. They also have no loyalty to the fans, none, zero, zip. They also have no sense of tradition. Their world is 10 second clips on ESPN showing dunks and 3s, and, oh, selling hot dogs and pizzas at outrageous prices. They were making money and would have had no trouble in financing a new arena for themselves. Only that was against Davy boy's policy; heck, if one ownership team pays, before you know it, people will be insisting that they all do, and how is that good for the "league." Forget you David; you got the cash but no one's respect.

Buy a ticket to a game? Not me, and my city has a team whose owner actually built an arena with his own cash, only now, "to compete," he's asking DC, which has the worse infra structure for schools in the country, to pony up 50 large to upgrade the facility. Abe, you was a mensch once; what the hell happened? Yeah, I know, ask David.

Sorry for the rant, grey "ask not for whom the bell tolls, . . . ." beard

[Kdogg]

Reminds me of the Charlotte Hornets and their battle with George Shinn. Why the city of Charlotte felt it needed another NBA team and a new arena at all is beyond me.

Charlotte is a little different. The city and fans hated the owner. If Shinn had sold the team, it would have never left Charlotte. Charlotte was not opposed to corporate welfare, they were opposed to Shinn. The Hornets were the anti-Clippers. In spite of a cheap owner, they were run pretty well. The fans/city wanted a divorce from the owner though.

I'm not sure why Seatle/Washington state were opposed to a deal. If it was for financial prudence, good for them (I'm against public financing of private businesses.) The Seahawks and Mariners both have fairly new homes so I think there are other reasons. From a business owners stand point, the lease at Key is terrible. It's even worse than the old Rose Garden lease. It's a pretty sweat deal for the city though.

I'm a Sonics fan so I'm said to see them go. IMO, the only thing worse than the Wally Walker hire was Ackerley selling the club. It was down hill from there.

[theman5207]

Let's not forget the big-spending Duke alum who made it all happen.

[JBDuke]

It's times like these that I'm thankful the Wizards are owned by Abe Pollin, who built the Verizon Center with his own money, and didn't hold the city hostage.

[adam]

I have many fond memories of going to Seattle to watch the Sonics play when I was a kid. At the end of our pee-wee basketball season, the "all-star" team would take a bus over to Seattle to watch the Sonics play. We'd bring our sleeping bags and spend the night in a local high school gym and watch the Sonics play the following night. It was everything a young kid could ask for. There wasn't anything better than watching your NBA hero's play live and in person... Nate McMillan, Gary "The Glove" Payton, Shawn "Reign Man" Kemp, Sam Perkins, Detlef Schrempf, etc. Man, those were the days. :)

I realize that business is business. I also realize the Sonics haven't had the same success in recent years as they did in their "glory days", but seeing them leave Seattle still hurts nonetheless.

I, too, feel betrayed. The NBA let me down. As did the city of Seattle. After all, it was the city who set a price tag on the support, spirit, and fond memories of countless loyal Sonic fans. I wish this was all just a really bad dream.

Thank you, Seattle SuperSonics... It's been an amazing journey over the years. You will be missed.

[DevilAlumna]

Nice write-up, pfr.

I also can't help but feel a little peeved by the city's half-assed, too-little-too-late effort to "keep" the team by arranging a new group of buyers, who also were willing to pony up for half of the Key Arena renovation. Why did that group only come together when the Sonic's bags were all but packed? (Despite what the purchase agreement said, I think it was very clear from the beginning that the team was Oklahoma City bound.)

At this point, it's good bye and good riddance, but watching the whole thing play out has just left me feeling rather blah about pro sports in the city in general.

(And practically, it wasn't Key arena that kept me from going to Sonics games, it was the damned 520 bridge, and getting from I-5 to Queen Anne! Renovate the roads first!)

[mapei]

Me, I feel for Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and the rest of the Seattle, er, Oklahoma players. How depressing for them.

[Olympic Fan]

Personally, I'm constitutionally opposed to corporate welfare -- the idea that middle-class working Americans (where most of our tax money comes from) building the huge, expensive edifices for multi-millionaires is disgusting.

I wish I could find the link, but there's an economist who works at NC State whose studies show that spending money on sports facilities, always touted as a way to bring in money, is in fact one of the most inefficient uses of our tax dollars.

Did I read that Key Arena in Seattle was 15 years old? I know I read that the city/state agreed to finance a large chunk of the rennovations that were needed, but that the owner refused to contribute to any improvement or for building a replacement arena. NC State conned the taxpayers into building them the RBC with a deal that the local government would pay a third, the state goverment would pay a third and the school would pay a third (although it turned out that most of State's donation was the gift of the land or was to be paid through naming rights). When the hockey team came into a picture, they paid for alterations in the design to suit them -- and ended up paying almost half the final construction cost.

Jerry Richardson paid for Panther stadium. The taxpayers helped him out with a lot of perks -- road construction, tax breaks, etc. That's the way it should work -- I know that when BMW was looking to locate a plant that would provide hundreds, maybe thousands of jobs, they were seeking all kinds of breaks in terms of roads altered, zoning breaks, tax breaks ... but they never asked anybody to build them a plant.

Yet, sports owners do that all the time. One of the worst examples I know of is here in Durham. Jim Goodman, one of the richest men in the Triangle, bought the Durham Bulls from Miles Wolff in the late 1980s and immediately began campaigning for a new ballpark to replace historic Durham Athletic Park. There was strong sentiment in the public to rennovate the DAP instead of replacing it. Goodman refused that option, threatening to take the team out of Durham if he didn't get a new park.

It was during this period that I happened to run into Goodman at a social function. One of the leaders of the renovation movement walked by and I heard him say, "That SOB doesn't want ME to get MY new ballpark."

Neither did the taxpayers of Durham, who voted overwhelmingly against funding a new ballpark in a referendum in the early 1990s. But with Goodman threatening to move the team (all the way out to the airport!), Durham's city council capitulated and voted for the new ballpark. It was originally supposed to be funded by city-backed bonds and not tax money, but in the end they dipped into the city's sewage funds for $17 million.

I just posted this today because I was watching the news last night and saw highlights of the Bulls playing in what is now named "Goodman Park." I see the multi-millionaire SOB got HIS ballpark -- and we poor saps gave it to him free of charge.

[Sixthman]

Yet, sports owners do that all the time. One of the worst examples I know of is here in Durham. Jim Goodman, one of the richest men in the Triangle, bought the Durham Bulls from Miles Wolff in the late 1980s and immediately began campaigning for a new ballpark to replace historic Durham Athletic Park. There was strong sentiment in the public to rennovate the DAP instead of replacing it. Goodman refused that option, threatening to take the team out of Durham if he didn't get a new park.

It was during this period that I happened to run into Goodman at a social function. One of the leaders of the renovation movement walked by and I heard him say, "That SOB doesn't want ME to get MY new ballpark."

Neither did the taxpayers of Durham, who voted overwhelmingly against funding a new ballpark in a referendum in the early 1990s. But with Goodman threatening to move the team (all the way out to the airport!), Durham's city council capitulated and voted for the new ballpark. It was originally supposed to be funded by city-backed bonds and not tax money, but in the end they dipped into the city's sewage funds for $17 million.

I just posted this today because I was watching the news last night and saw highlights of the Bulls playing in what is now named "Goodman Park." I see the multi-millionaire SOB got HIS ballpark -- and we poor saps gave it to him free of charge.[/QUOTE]

Uh, have you been to downtown Durham recently? There is no way to draw direct lines of cause and effect between any single funding decision and other investment decisions, but it is pretty clear that what is happening in downtown is the product of investment drawing more investment. Goodman's vision, personal investment and determination have been likely the greatest (and if not the greatest than certainly one of the greatest) contribution to turning downtown Durham from a wasteland to an increasingly vibrant area of culture, entertainment, business and investment. Momentum is everything in making this kind of change, and his actions (even if motivated by greed and ego as you imply) created and have and continued to sustain the momentum that is remaking downtown Durham.

[throatybeard]

The DBAP isn't really comparable, as we're talking about the minor leagues and an order of magnitude less cost.

I say good for Seattle. The extortion routine on the part of franchises is absurd, especially with basketball arenas. For some reason the absurd turnover with basketball is [even] faster than with baseball and football stadiums. Unless you're from the market in question, it's good to see the people stand up to the owners.